The popularity of media pirates has created increasing demand for pirate fashion, including pirate costumes. Many wonder if the women's pirate costumes of today resemble what historic female pirates used to wear. In fact, female pirates usually dressed like their male counterparts, in sturdy trousers and rough spun shirts that could withstand the harshness of life at sea. Even those who dressed as women wore full skirts that could be kilted up for rigorous activity and fighting. The corset and short skirt typical to ladies' pirate costumes today may keep the wearer cool at an indoor fancy dress party, but neither is practical for a working sailor aboard a ship.
Those interested in a more authentic look should study the history of female pirates, and research the fashions worn by sailors of the time. While there are engravings available for some historical figures, sources do have to be considered. Many illustrations available to modern audiences were initially caricatures, meant to depict the evil of women pirates not only engaging in violent crime considered to be men's domain, but compounding their sins by dressing as men. Thus, such illustrations are unreliable as sources for the women's dress.
Standard men's pirate costumes could work as base for a more authentic female costume. So could, depending on the period, a sailor's costume, or a peasant's. To illustrate how these clothes could lead to a more authentic-looking outfit than the women's pirate costumes, here are a few brief histories of some of the more famous female pirates.
Unquestionably, the most famous female pirates in Western culture are Anne Bonney and Mary Read. Anne served as a member of Jack "Calico Jack" Rackham's crew until that crew's capture in October, 1720. She was already Jack's lover when she began to serve under him in 1718 or 1719, but she waited until her reputation as a fighter was established to reveal herself as a woman to the rest of the crew.
Mary Read also came aboard as a man; in fact, she had been raised as a boy, joined the English military, and only lived as a woman for the brief time she was married. Once widowed, she again became Mark Read, and was serving aboard a merchant vessel when Calico Jack captured it and gave the crew the option of working for him or being killed. When Anne expressed romantic interest, Mary revealed her secret. They both shared the secret with Calico Jack, who was jealous of the amount of time they were spending together.
While Anne and Mary spent their pirating careers dressed like their male crew members, it was their femaleness that saved them both from the hangman's noose. Both pled pregnancy at their sentencing, which delayed their executions until after childbirth. It's unknown if either was lying; Mary Read died the next month. Anne Bonney disappeared from the record entirely. She, too, might have died, or her plantation-owning father might have exercised his influence to bribe her out of trouble.
Slightly less famous is Irish pirate Grace O'Malley. She was born to a seafaring family where she learned the ways of piracy. Whereas Bonney and Read worked at the beginning of the eighteenth century, O'Malley lived in the middle of the sixteenth century. So while she dressed like the men who served with her, their dress differed from that of Calico Jack's crew.
There are many more female pirates, in every time period and from every nation. It's just a matter of deciding which might be of most interest, and then doing your research on her. It's even possible that certain ladies' pirate costumes, with modifications, would serve well in recreating a less famous pirate.
